1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration assembly, input device containing the vibration assembly, which can realizes feedback of a vibration to a user by the user's sense of touch, and electronic equipment such as an information-processing device, a mobile phone, and a personal digital assistant (PDA), which contains the input device.
2. Description of Related Art
User has recently captured various kinds of contents on electronic equipment such as an information-processing device, a mobile telephone, and a PDA and utilized the contents. The electronic equipment has any input device. The input device contains a key board and a jog dial, and a touch panel equipped with a display unit.
Input/output device combined with actuator has been developed. In such the actuator, at least two-layer piezoelectric elements that have different strains or a piezoelectric element and a non-piezoelectric element are laminated together. The actuator dynamically utilizes any deformation of the layered elements by difference in the strains generated between or among the layered elements when applying vibration control electric voltage to the piezoelectric element in the laminated elements.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-94389 has disclosed electronic equipment equipped with such the piezoelectric actuator and input/output device therefor. The electronic equipment contains input/output device having multilayered bimorph type piezoelectric actuator and a touch panel. The multilayered bimorph type piezoelectric actuator feeds any different vibrations back to the user by the user's sense of touch through the touch panel based on any species of information. The input/output device contains a piezoelectric-element-supporting structure such that piezoelectric actuators are attached to the support frame through supporting parts. Another supporting part is bonded on a middle of each of the piezoelectric actuators and this supporting part connects the touch panel. When applying any vibration control electric voltages to the piezoelectric actuators, any vibrations can be transferred to the touch panel.
In such a feedback control using these piezoelectric actuators, the touch panel detects any input (position or applied force) from outside, a control system triggers a vibration of the touch panel or a casing based on the input information from the touch panel.
On the other hands, mobile phones of biaxial hinged type, straight type, and slide type often have display panels each attaching a receiver on an upper portion thereof near its display portion. The receiver drives a diaphragm based on the principle of a magnet speaker of a voice coil scheme to communicate voice and the like of the party on the other end to the user during a telephone conversation or delivers any relatively small sound effects or the like based on the user's manipulation of the mobile phone.